Investigate This!

Adventures in Babysitting?

He sat there for a few seconds as he attempted to gather his thought and rethink his strategy. Bubbly laughter filtered from the front door and drew Damian up from his seat and to the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room. Jasmine stood at the front door, chatting animatedly with a gangly teenager who could not have been older than nineteen. A gangly teenager that Damian could snap in two without a second thought and while he knew it shouldn't, the urge to break the boy flared up as Jasmine touched his shoulder. If he thought about it rationally, it wasn't anything more than friendly but the unbelievable jealously made him think it was something more.

"I can't believe you're off to college soon, Jimmy! I'm going to miss you delivering pizza on my stakeouts," Jasmine remarked jokingly as she smiled at the teenager. The boy-man grinned crookedly at her and shrugged.

"As much as I love delivering pies all over town, Stanford's kinda got me booked," Jimmy replied while laughing. He happened to glance past one of his favorite customers and found a very angry looking man standing behind her glaring at him.

"Uh...hi?" Jimmy greeted unsure what the man's anger was about. Jasmine frowned before she looked over her shoulder and glared at the man.

"Stop glaring, Damian. It's rude." She ordered curtly as Jimmy looked between her and the mystery man known as Damian. Damian pulled his face out of a scowl just as Jasmine handed Jimmy the money in her hand and he handed over the two boxes and bottle he had been holding in just one hand. Jimmy thanked Jasmine and after a promise to keep in touch, the gangly boy left and Jasmine shut the door. She readjusted the items in her hands as she turned to face Damian. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Jasmine dragged her eyes away.

"Can you grab Cal for me?" She requested as she moved to walk by him. Damian frowned. Children had never liked him and he had never liked children. Yet here he was babysitting another man's child simply because he had become enthralled by the humming woman in the kitchen. It was insane. Damian's eyes drifted the little boy who stared at him expectantly. He internally cursed. The kid was smart and observant.

"I want food." The childish demand was simple and Cal reached up for Damian. Damian stared at the young boy, studying him. He had bouncy golden curls and smoky grey eyes. If Damian was honest, Cal was a cute kid.

"Damian?" Jasmine's voice from the kitchen brought Damian back from his thoughts. He sighed before he picked up Cal and walked into the kitchen. Jasmine laughed when she noticed the way Damian held out the toddler away from him.

"He's a toddler, not a rabid possum," she quipped easily before laughing again. Damian scrunched his nose as Cal joined in with his aunt's laughter. Damian looked between the two laughing and felt the urge to join them swell in his gut. Again, without doing anything other than simply breathing, Jasmine Zimmer was luring him in. Something like a warning was going off in his bachelor mind. All these thoughts of settling down and family were being put into his head by the woman maneuvering herself around the kitchen. He didn't like it. He didn't like her. He shifted uncomfortably. He froze instantly when Jasmine turned to him with a warm smile.

Sensing his discomfort, Jasmine easily snatched Cal from Damian's grip. She hugged the child to her hip as she made her way back to the table where she had laid out their dinner. After putting Cal in his high chair and placing a sippy cup with juice and a plate with cut up pieces of pizza in front of him, she turned her attention back to the quiet man standing there watching her. Damian DeLuca really was too handsome for his own good, Jasmine thought to herself as she motioned him to join her at the table.

"I should go," Damian suddenly remarked as he looked around. Jasmine's eyes widened in surprise before she settled her mouth in a firm line.

"No one is keepin' you here," she replied as she sat down and pulled a slice of pizza from inside the box on the table. Damian frowned at her response. Most women pleaded for him to stay. Even the ones that didn't plead at least looked at him with something other than disgruntled disinterest. The tight lipped look Jasmine wore was similar to the one his mother wore every time he proclaimed he would remain a bachelor.